Refrigeration Maintenance Lead Engineer

Job Objective

The Refrigeration Maintenance Lead is responsible for supervising a team of Senior Refrigeration Engineers and ensuring the effective maintenance of plasma freezers operating at –35°C across all plasma facilities. This role ensures high equipment uptime, regulatory compliance, and cold chain reliability. The position also manages and monitors external service providers performing preventive and corrective maintenance on refrigeration systems.

Key responsibility

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and schedule a team of Senior Refrigeration Engineers.
• Ensure adherence to maintenance SOPs, safety guidelines, and quality standards.
• Provide technical guidance and training to team members.

Refrigeration Maintenance

• Oversee preventive, corrective, and predictive maintenance for –35°C plasma freezers.
• Lead troubleshooting activities for Freon refrigeration systems (compressors, evaporators, valves, controls).
• Ensure freezers operate within validated temperature ranges.

Vendor & Contractor Oversight

• Supervise external maintenance providers and verify completion of maintenance tasks.
• Review service reports and ensure compliance with OEM standards and SLAs.
• Coordinate vendor scheduling, spare parts needs, and technical support.

Compliance & Documentation

• Maintain accurate maintenance records and logs in compliance with GMP/quality systems.
• Support internal and external audits.
• Ensure compliance with refrigerant handling regulations and safety requirements.

Operational Support

• Analyze equipment performance trends and recommend improvements.
• Assist with equipment upgrades, installations, and commissioning.
• Support emergency maintenance response and on‑call coverage.

Academic experience required

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, Refrigeration or related field.

Professional Experience Required

• 7–10 years' experience in industrial/medical refrigeration, including Freon-based systems.
• 3 years in a supervisory or leadership role.
• Strong skills in refrigeration diagnostics, leak detection, vacuuming, and refrigerant charging.
• Experience with GMP environments and CMMS systems preferred.

Computing Skills

• Proficiency in computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) and Microsoft Office Suite.
• SAP key user

Personal Skills

• Leadership & team development
• Technical troubleshooting
• Vendor & contract management
• Quality mindset and attention to detail
• Effective communication and decision making

Languages

• English
• Arabic